Project description:Runx3 is an important transcription factor for the proper development of CD8+T cells. The number and functionality of CD8+T cells is severely affected in the absence of Runx3. To gain insight into the transcriptional program managed by Runx3 in CD8+T cells we conducted ChIP-seq on 50 million cells and CUT&RUN on 150,000 cells, using anti Runx3 antibodies. Both assays revealed similar results.
Project description:Memory CD8+ T cells have the ability to provide lifelong immunity against pathogens. Although memory features generally arise after challenge with a foreign antigen, naïve CD8 single positive (SP) thymocytes may acquire phenotypic and functional characteristics of memory cells in response to cytokines such as interleukin-4. This process is associated with the induction of the T-box transcription factor Eomesodermin (EOMES). However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain ill-defined. Using epigenomic profiling, we show that these innate memory CD8SP cells acquire only a portion of the active enhancer repertoire of conventional memory cells. This reprograming is secondary to EOMES recruitment, mostly to RUNX3-bound enhancers. Furthermore, EOMES is found within chromatin-associated complexes containing BRG1 and promotes the recruitment of this chromatin remodelling factor. Also, the in vivo acquisition of EOMES-dependent program is BRG1-dependent. In conclusion, our results support a strong epigenetic basis for the EOMES-driven establishment of CD8+ T cell innate memory program.
Project description:Cellular binary fate decisions require the progeny to silence genes associated with the alternative fate. The major subsets of alpha:beta T cells have been extensively studied as a model system for fate decisions. While the transcription factor RUNX3 is required for the initiation of Cd4 silencing in CD8 T cell progenitors, it is not required to maintain the silencing of Cd4 and other helper T lineage genes. The other runt domain containing protein, RUNX1, silences Cd4 in an earlier T cell progenitor, but this silencing is reversed whereas the gene silencing after RUNX3 expression is not reverse. Therefore, we hypothesized that RUNX3 and not RUNX1 recruits other factors that maintains the silencing of helper T lineage genes in CD8 T cells. To this end, we performed a proteomics screen of RUNX1 and RUNX3 to determine candidate silencing factors.
Project description:Tissue-resident memory T (TRM) cells provide rapid and superior control of localized infections. The transcription factor Runx3 was recently identified as a master regulator of CD8+ T cell tissue residency. However, Runx3 also drives CD8+ T cell lineage commitment and is repressed in CD4+ T cells, raising the possibility that this transcription factor defines a form of tissue residency unique to the CD8+ T cell subset. Here, we show that as a direct consequence of Runx3-deficiency, CD4+ TRM cells in epithelia lack the TGFb-responsive transcriptional network that underpins CD8+ TRM cell residency. Ectopic Runx3 expression in CD4+ T cells rescued this transcriptional program to promote prolonged survival, decreased tissue egress and a microanatomical redistribution towards epithelial layers that combined, resulted in superior local immune protection. Our results thus reveal a mechanistic discordance between CD4+ and CD8+ TRM cell formation in barrier tissues that is controlled by Runx3. Consequently, CD4+ TRM cells are unable to adopt a type of tissue residency that is intrinsically accessible to the CD8+ TRM cell subset.
Project description:ChIP-seq was conducted using freshly isolated (resting) splenic WT CD8+ T cells with anti-Runx3 antibody (Ab), anti-H3K4me1 Ab and non-immune serum (NIS) as control. Two biological Runx3 and two NIS IP repeats from splenic CD8+ T cells isolated by positive selection on anti-CD8 magnetic beads, collected from 18 WT mice.
Project description:ChIP-seq was conducted on isolated splenic WT CD8+ T cells, TCR-activated and cultured with IL-2 using anti-Runx3 antibodies (Ab), anti-H3K4me1 Ab and non-immune serum (NIS) as control. Two biological Runx3 and two NIS IP repeats from TCR-activated and IL-2 cultured splenic CD8+ T cells isolated by positive selection on anti-CD8 magnetic beads.
Project description:Normal cell growth is characterized by a regulated epigenetic program that drives cellular activities such as gene transcription, DNA replication and DNA damage repair. Perturbation of this epigenetic program can lead to events such as mis-regulation of gene transcription and diseases such as cancer. To begin to understand the epigenetic program correlated to the development of melanoma, we performed a quantitative mass spectrometric analysis of histone posttranslational modifications mis-regulated in melanoma cell culture. Aggressive melanoma cells were found to have elevated histone H3 lysine 27 trimethylation (H3K27me3) as well as over-expressed methyltransferase EZH2 that adds the specific modification. The altered epigenetic program that led to elevated H3K27me3 in melanoma cell culture was found to directly silence transcription of the tumor suppressor gene RUNX3. The elevated level of H3K27me3 and silencing of RUNX3 transcription was also validated in advanced stage human melanoma tissues. The study presented underscores the utility of using high resolution mass spectrometry to identify mis-regulated epigenetic programs in diseases such as cancer, which could ultimately lead to the identification of biological markers for diagnostic and prognostic applications.
Project description:This model describes the effects of Il-21 on tumor eradication via natural killer cell-mediated and CD8+ T-cell-mediated lysis of tumor cells. The model demonstrates changes in growth dynamics in nonimmunogenic B16 melanoma and the immunogenic MethA and MCA205 fibrosarcomas, showing a strong dependence of the NK-cell/CD8+ T-cell balance on tumor immunogenicity.
Project description:CD8+T cells are immune cells that recognize foreign antigens on infected and tumor cells, leading to cytokine-dependent expansion and activation of cytotoxicity towards the targets. To identify Runx3 responsive genes, CD8+ T cells were isolated from spleen of WT and Runx3-/- mice . Six samples (3 WT and 3 Runx3-/-) of freshly isolated CD8+ T cells (resting) were separately obtained from individual mice.